Deep within the caverns of Lead, South Dakota is one of the nation’s preeminent underground laboratories. The site of the former Homestake Mine was once one of the largest and deepest gold mines in North America. This famous mine was discovered during the 1876 Black Hills gold rush and maintained a rich and colorful mining history for the next 125 years. When the mine became unprofitable it closed in 2003, having produced more than 40 million ounces of gold over its lifetime.

Thanks to microfluidics, you may soon be able to easily and continually monitor your health with the help of Northwestern University’s new wearable, stretchable monitors. Yonggang Huang, a Northwestern University professor, and John A. Rogers, a University of Illinois professor, have designed thin, soft, stick-on patches that stretch and move with the skin and incorporate commercial, off-the-shelf chip-based electronics for sophisticated wireless health monitoring. These microfluidic devices can be laminated onto the skin to track everyday health and wirelessly send updates to your cellphone, computer, or doctor’s office.

Click here (www.osti.gov/pages/) to view the future of public access to scientific publications.

As of August 4, 2014, and for the first time ever, the Department of Energy (DOE) will provide a portal (see above) allowing anyone to read, download, and analyze in digital form final peer-reviewed manuscripts or final published articles of work sponsored by the Department. You can read the entire DOE public access plan here.

Dr. Arthur J. RagauskasIt is anticipated that the biofuels industry will have a dramatic impact on our lives, much like the petroleum industry. Alternative fuels from renewable cellulosic biomass— plant stalks, trunks, stems, and leaves—are expected to significantly reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil while enhancing national energy security and decreasing the environmental impacts of energy use. Research is currently focused on accelerating the environmental and commercial viability of biofuel production.

The University of Tennessee’s Arthur Ragauskas is one of the notable scientists who are redefining the frontiers of bioenergy research in the quest for an economically feasible and sustainable biofuel industry.

OSTI's mission is to advance science and sustain technological creativity by making R&D findings available and useful to DOE researchers and the public. As part of this commitment to America’s science and technology future, we strive to place information in consumers’ hands, specifically, at their fingertips. Rapidly changing technology and increasing demands from smartphone-toting consumers drive new paths to DOE research using new social media tools.

DOE supports the use of social media as an avenue to uphold “open government principles of transparency, participation and collaboration”, expand the conversation on energy issues, and communicate with the rising/next generation of researchers. OSTI regularly shares information through interactive and user-driven social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. OSTI makes social media posts not only about our scientific and technical information (STI) collections and search tools, but also retweets and shares STI-related posts from other DOE program offices and across the 17 DOE national laboratories.